Yesterday, at the reception in the Historical Archive of Novi Sad, Vojvodina FC presented new jerseys for the season 2023/2024, celebrating 2 historical jubilees – 110th anniversary of the Club, and 100th anniversary of Karađorđe stadium.
As is known to the public, Karađorđe stadium marks its 100th birthday next year, while Vojvodina FC will celebrate 110 years of existence.
Precisely these important symbols in the rich history of the ’’old lady’’ were the inspiration for designing the jersey, which won’t leave anyone indifferent, and will inspire both players and fans to wear them proudly.
Petar Đurđev, director of the Historical Archive of Novi Sad, elaborated on the connection between the two great anniversaries and the jersey design of Vojvodina FC.
- It is my great honour to welcome you all in the name of the Historical Archive of Novi Sad, the place which keeps, and partially creates the collective identity of our Novi Sad. We are certainly honoured to have cooperated with Vojvodina FC marketing team in the designing of these jerseys, and gave them the idea of how they should look like in the new season, when Serbian football and our Novi Sad celebrate two important anniversaries – and those are 110 years of the Club, and 100 years since the foundation of once just a playground, and now the stadium – Karađorđe. When something in Serbian football and our surroundings as well, marks 110 years of existence, then it’s a confirmation of the unbelievable love, and a story deeply rooted in local-patriotism, i.e. the identity of Novi Sad. As we all know, when in 1914 a group of young football lovers from Podbara, Salajka, and Rotkvarija played their first match in Kovilj, they performed in blue jerseys. If we look at the archive photographs witnessing about that time, then you will see that they played in blue jerseys, which is why one of the guest jerseys is blue. What is extremely important as the peculiarity of this jersey, is that as the light motif it has a subtle pattern comprised of the names of all the players who played more than 110 games in the jersey of Vojvodina FC. What we also know, and what was an important impulse in the organization of our club, was the connection to Prague. Some of the founders and the first players were the members of the sports section of one of the greatest clubs of that time – SK Slavija from Prague. The first set of red and white jerseys arrived to Novi Sad in 1920, and if I remember correctly, on July 22nd in 1922, during an official assembly it was decided that Vojvodina would wear a half red, half white jersey like Slavija from Prague. Even the emblem of the Club was similar to that of Slavija, with the only difference being that their red star was replaced by a blue one, so that the emblem of Vojvodina would have all the colors of the Serbian flag. Thus, looking once again at the material from the archives, we found a famous photograph of the team from 1923, the first saved photograph showing us how the players of Vojvodina looked in those jersey, and we made the replica reminding us of the 100th anniversary of the red and white jersey.
We mentioned that Vojvodina will mark another important jubilee, and that will be 100 years since the foundation of Karađorđe stadium. It was truly a great achievement of the Serbian and Jewish community in Novi Sad, where in unity and agreement they managed to get the permission to use the ex-cycling velodrome, that was made on the city’s outskirts in 1968, or today’s Grbavica, to be more precise Liman. Players and friends of the club collected the money and built a playing field that was officially opened on Vidovdan in 1924, clearly suggesting its importance to the Serbian community, which is why the stadium was named Karađorđe. The grey jersey commemorates this moment in our collective history. And thus, by using the archive materials which best speaks about the past times, and that dynamic and tumultuous development of our beloved club, we created the jerseys that will personify the season of 2023/2024. I am convinced and I know that just like these jerseys, we will be impressive on the pitch, and show that as the great Vojvodina FC we surpass the borders of Serbian sports, and that we will show our skills and know-how, and prove that Novi Sad plays good football – Petar Đurđev said.
After this introductory speech by Petar Đurđev, and before the legendary Vasa Pušibrk, president of the Veterans of Vojvodina FC unveiled the new jersey, those present watched a short clip about the making of red-white vintage jersey.
